salad tagged posts

My friends and I have gathered together for Christmas brunch every single year since record albums were the coolest Christmas gifts.  This year, I decided to treat them to Christmas in Paris – one of my friends opened up her lovely Georgetown home and I threw together an easy, chic brunch with a French twist. I gathered ready-made gourmet treats from local artisans, made a couple of recipes ahead of time (inspired by a famous Parisian pastry chef and a French cookbook writer), and prepared two showstopper, easy-assemble salads. Throw on a scratchy recording of Edith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose et voilà, it’s Christmas in Paris through rose-coloured glasses.

Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Rose Syrup served in Champagne:

When you combine Christmas and cherished friends at the same table, it’s time to pull out all the stops. I served some extra special treats to nibble and sip on as hors d’oeuvres. Rose syrup is the flavour du jour in Paris and this jar of Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Rose Syrup contains 15 handpicked wild hibiscus flowers packed in syrup made from the natural essence of two dozen Bulgarian roses. Place one flower in the bottom of a champagne flute, add some rose syrup, pour in the champagne and watch the bubbles unfurl the flower – it reminds me of the skirts flying at Le Moulin Rouge. Available as a limited edition production from Crafted Décor in Streetsville and Florence Meats in Oakville.

Pierre Hermé’s Olive Sablés served with White Wine or Champagne:

These aren’t just any savoury cookie – they are an utterly surprising savoury French shortbread that will have your guests shocked by the initial sweetness (from the icing sugar), enamoured by the incredible tenderness (from the potato starch and grated egg yolk) and then, when the salty and fruity notes (from the oil-cured black olives and olive oil) hit the stage, you just may hear gasps followed by utterances of ooh la la…as if you were watching the latest Parisian haute couture creation walk down the runway in the city’s top fashion house. In fact, the recipe comes from famous French Pastry Chef Pierre Hermé, who is widely acclaimed as the “Couturier of Haute Pâtisserie”.

I made the dough well in advance and rolled it into logs, then froze them. When ready to bake, I took one log out at a time a few moments before baking, then sliced from frozen and baked. The recipe turned out beautifully – you simply must have it in your repertoire. How does a local gal comme moi get her hands on Pierre Hermé’s recipe? I found it in Dorie Greenspan’s charmingly chic cookbook, Around My French Table, which is available to borrow from the Mississauga Library or to buy from www.chapters.indigo.ca  It’s on my Christmas wish list – I hope my husband is reading my blog posts!

Spirit Tree Estate Cidery Pâté with Ice Cider & Shallots and Evelyn’s Currant in the Rye Crackers served with Sparkling Pear Cider:

Spirit Tree Estate Cidery Pâté with Ice Cider & Shallots is a superb pâté. Luxuriously smooth and creamy, it’s packed with the flavour of all natural ingredients: chicken livers, clarified butter, shallots, port, brandy, ice cider, Calvados, apple syrup, eggs, and spices. It’s frozen in adorable little 165g ceramic pots. I picked it up from Spirit Tree Estate Cidery a while back and stored it in my freezer, ready for Christmas entertaining. Just defrost overnight in your fridge.

Evelyn’s Currant in the Rye Crackers are the perfect match for this pâté: a hearty yet delicate cracker made with preservative-free, all natural ingredients including dried currants, fennel, anise, and caraway seeds and best of all, 100% heritage organic rye grown and milled by Ontario farmers. Evelyn’s Crackers are made by “cracker heroes” Dawn and Ed – find out what makes them heroes here: www.fiestafarms.ca/heroes.  Available at Whole Foods. For other locations throughout Ontario, click here: http://evelynscrackers.wordpress.com/wheretobuy/.

Spirit Tree Estate Cidery Sparkling Pear Cider is a refreshing choice for those who are looking for something non-alcoholic: fresh pear, just a hint of sweetness, bubbly, and light.  It’s perfect for special celebrations.  Also available in Sparkling Sweet Apple Cider. Spirit Tree’s Mulled Apple Cider containing chopped fruit and spices would be another great choice and very festive. If you would like to learn a little bit more about Spirit Tree, read my full post here: Spirit Tree Estate Cidery: Savour the Quality.

For the main meal, I laid out an impressive line-up of store-bought gourmet goodies and two easily prepared dishes I made myself that just needed just some minor last minute preparations.

Prosciutto Wrapped Fresh Figs Stuffed with Cheese on Arugula

Serves 6

This showstopper, palate-pleasing salad is a cinch to assemble à la minute. The sweetness of the figs and vinegar plays against the salty prosciutto, creamy tang of the blue cheese, and peppery punch of the arugula. If you don’t like blue cheese, feel free to use brie or chèvre instead. I used a beautiful combination of Date Crème Vinegar and Hazelnut Oil that I picked up at Crescendo World of Oils Vinegars and Spices in Toronto’s Distillery district – but extra virgin olive oil and balsamic glaze are also terrific.

Ingredients:

6 fresh figs, sliced in half from stem end to blossom end, keeping stem halves intact
1/3 cup your favourite creamy mild blue such as St. Agur or Devil’s Rock (or chèvre)
6 slices prosciutto, cut in half lengthwise
6 handfuls of baby arugula (or your favourite greens)
Hazelnut oil or extra virgin olive oil
Date Crème Vinegar or balsamic glaze
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Smear cheese on cut side of each fig half. Wrap each half with prosciutto. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator up to 4 hours before serving or bake immediately, according to the following instructions.
2. Arrange cheese side up on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in 425°F oven until prosciutto is crisp and cheese has melted, about 5 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, toss the greens with some salt, pepper, and oil; spread greens out on a pretty platter; place figs on top and drizzle figs and salad with vinegar. Serve warm.

Spirit Tree Estate Cidery Quiche:

Make sure you search out the very best handcrafted quiche you can find. Spirit Tree Estate Cidery makes delicious quiche. The Quiche Lorraine is full of hearty flavour from bacon, potato, thyme, and swiss cheese. The Tomato & Spinach quiche has intensely flavoured wood-oven-dried tomatoes, sautéed spinach, thyme, and clumps of soft chèvre, all suspended in a lovely egg custard. I purchased both quiches frozen, stored them in my freezer, and baked them from frozen on the day of the brunch. I haven’t tried their Mushroom & Potato or Cauliflower quiche yet but they sound tempting.

If you can’t make it out to Spirit Tree, good quality quiche can also be found at The Hot Oven in Etobicoke, Cousin’s Gourmet Market in Port Credit, Black Forest Pastry Shop in Oakville, and Kate’s Town Talk Bakery in Streetsville (Kate also sells a really tasty Spinach & Cheese pie – another one of my favourites). Wherever you choose to purchase your quiche, be sure to call ahead to place an order in advance.

Vodka Infused Smoked Salmon:

Drape some luxurious smoked salmon on a pretty platter and garnish with lemon wedges and perhaps, capers, sliced onion, and a drizzle of olive oil. My absolute favourite is a locally produced Vodka Infused Smoked Salmon that I buy from Cousin’s Gourmet Market in Port Credit and have also found it at Domenic’s in the St. Lawrence Market. It is so tender, that it almost melts in your mouth.

Artisanal Croissants:

What would Christmas in Paris be like without really good croissants? I picked up frozen chocolate and butter croissants handcrafted at Patisserie D’Or in Oakville, stashed them in my freezer, took them out to rise overnight, then baked fresh the morning of the brunch –you can’t get easier or more delicious than that. Boy did my kitchen smell heavenly! These croissants have a buttery flavour and a nice mouthfeel.

And now for the grande finale…

French Macarons:

Buy a colourful assortment of the very best French macarons you can find. I picked up these little beauties from Whole Foods, made by La Fournette Bakery: mango, passion fruit, vanilla, raspberry, pumpkin, chocolate, pistachio, and my favourite – hazelnut.

Ispahan Parfait

Serves 6

This showstopper fruit salad was inspired by the beautiful flavour combination of raspberries, lychee and rose, created by famous French Pastry Chef, Pierre Hermé, as a macaron flavour, and now all the rage in Paris. You won’t really notice the rose syrup in this gorgeous and healthy parfait – just a hint of je ne sais quois. Make both the rose syrup and the pistachio dust in advance (you can even freeze them if you need to). Combine the raspberries and lychees with the syrup at the last minute, or earlier on the day of serving, if necessary. Spoon into pretty glasses and top with yogurt, almonds, and pistachio dust just before serving. Feminine, festive, and fusion-French, it’s perfect for my girlfriends’ Christmas brunch.

If you don’t want to make your own rose syrup, you can order an exquisite Wild Rose Petal Syrup from Forbes Wild Foods, a Canadian company that supplies sustainably-harvested wild foods from the Canadian wilderness to restaurants, hotels, stores, and on-line customers. To order on-line click here:  http://store.wildfoods.ca/syrups/.

Oh to be in Pierre Hermé Paris at Christmas time.

Ingredients:

1 can (560mL) whole lychees in light syrup
1 package (6 oz/170g) fresh raspberries
¼ cup reserved lychee syrup from above can
5 teaspoons Rose Syrup (see recipe below)
½ cup vanilla yogurt – such as Sheldon Creek Dairy’s Greek-style Yogurt (see note below)
6 teaspoons raw slivered almonds
3 tablespoons Pistachio Dust (see recipe below)

Directions:

1. Drain lychees into strainer set over a medium bowl to reserve lychees and lychee syrup; slice lychees in half. Place lychees in a second medium size bowl. Add raspberries to lychee fruit.
2. In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup lychee syrup and 5 teaspoons rose syrup; add to lychees and raspberries and toss gently. Divide fruit evenly amongst 6 small pretty cups; spoon in a little syrup.
3. Place 1 spoonful of yogurt on top of each cup. Top each with 1 teaspoon of slivered almonds and then 1/2 tablespoon pistachio dust. Serve immediately.

Rose Syrup:

Makes just over 1/3 cup.

You’ll need rosewater, which you can find in Middle Eastern grocery stores such as Adonis. Store your rosewater and rose syrup in the fridge.

Ingredients:

1 cup water
½ cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon rosewater

Directions:

1. Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, simmer rapidly, stirring occasionally, until mixture has reduced and become syrupy, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice and rosewater. Let cool completely.
2. Store in a covered container in refrigerator for a few days or freeze in an airtight container for longer storage. Defrost in fridge before using.

Pistachio Dust:

So pretty sprinkled on fruit salad, especially on raspberries or strawberries at Christmas time.

Ingredients:

1 cup shelled raw pistachios

Directions:

1. Using a mini processor, grind pistachios into a fine dust. Store in an airtight container in freezer until ready to use.

A little decadence is called for here, so look for the richest yogurt you can find. Spirit Tree Estate Cidery sells a luxuriously creamy Greek Style Vanilla Yogurt from Sheldon Creek Dairy, made with pasteurized whole milk, light brown cane sugar, vanilla extract, and bacterial culture – and nothing else! Sheldon Creek Dairy’s pasteurized Cream Top Whole Non-Homogenized Milk is nutrient-rich, all natural, and has cream that rises to the top of the bottle and separates (how milk was made before we homogenized it): shake it in the bottle for creamier milk or spoon out to add to your coffee.  Sheldon Creek Dairy is owned and operated by the den Haan family whose herd of cows graze the pastures of the Sheldon Valley, in Loretto, Ontario. Click here for other retail locations: http://sheldoncreekdairy.ca/about.php.

For further details and locations of suppliers featured in this post, check my Grocery Store Directory or Farmers’ Market Directory.

To further enhance the mood, you may wish to play the following music suggestions:

White Christmas Michael Buble & Shy’m https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/white-christmas-duet-shym/id472520445

Noel Blanc Coeur de Pirate https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/c-ur-de-pirate/id290621195

My Apple Fennel Salad is a tribute to a Baby Spinach & Arugula Salad I enjoyed at Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill, while lunching with friends in Toronto’s Distillery District this summer. Pure Spirits’ Baby Spinach & Arugula Salad (on their summer menu) was an elegant composition of compressed watermelon, shaved fennel, salted honey ricotta, and puffed wheat berry on fresh greens, in a well-balanced vinaigrette. I savoured every healthy morsel. Here’s my take on it, replacing the compressed watermelon for seasonal apples.

Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill has switched up the ingredients in their Baby Spinach & Arugula Salad on their fall menu: it now has organic red quinoa, roasted root vegetables, pomegranate, and Roaring Forties Blue – a cheese from Australia’s King Island Dairy that has been well-praised in the press. Mmmm, I think a trip to The Distillery District is in order: lunch at Pure Spirits, a hot chocolate at Soma, and getting into the spirit of the season at the Toronto Christmas Market (details can be found on my Farmers’ Market Directory or on the Toronto Christmas Market website).

A note on the oil: I wandered into the Wandering Locavore, Leslie Edwards, at Centro Farmers’ Market in Burlington this summer, and bought Fennel Infused Olive Oil (made by The Village Press, Hawke’s Bay, New Zeeland), which I have been swooning over since. This luxurious, aniseed-flavoured olive oil is perfect for my Apple Fennel Salad or as a last minute drizzle over roasted fish (see my Grilled Trout with Tahina Sauce recipe and switch out the tahina sauce for fennel infused olive oil). Leslie delivers to Mississauga, with a minimum $25 order. To find out if Leslie will deliver to you, contact her on The Wandering Locavore website. Check out what other goodies the Wandering Locavore has to offer and what events Leslie will be selling her products at this season.

If you can’t get your hands on fennel infused olive oil, you could always try making your own. Click here for a link to a Garlic and Fennel Infused Oil recipe on the Food Network that looks good. If you try it, let me know how it turns out. Or just use your best extra virgin olive oil.

A note on the cheese: Ricotta salata is an Italian firm white cheese made from sheep’s milk that is pressed, salted, and aged, unlike fresh ricotta. You can find it in Italian supermarkets such as Longo’s and also in Whole Foods. It is drier than brined feta but if you can’t find ricotta salata, feta would be a fairly reasonable substitute. Or switch it up and use crumbled chèvre instead.

Apple Fennel Salad

What a wonderful way to celebrate fall: a healthy salad featuring fennel and apples.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Dressing:
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey, or more to taste
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons The Village Press Fennel Infused Olive Oil or plain extra virgin olive oil

Honeyed Cheese:
½ cup ricotta salata, crumbled
Honey

Salad:
4 – 5 large handfuls baby arugula
½ small sweet onion, shaved into thin slices
½ bulb fennel, shaved into thin slices
1 apple
1 small handful natural, shelled walnut pieces
1 small handful natural, shelled pumpkin seeds
Honey for drizzling

Directions:

Dressing:

1. In a small bowl, whisk first 4 ingredients to blend well; slowly pour in oil, whisking constantly until well-blended. Taste and adjust seasonings, if required; set aside.

Honeyed Cheese:

1. Drizzle just enough honey on crumbled cheese to coat lightly; toss to coat evenly; set aside.

Salad:

1. Spread arugula out on a large platter. Layer on shaved onion, and then fennel.
2. Just before serving, core but do not peel the apple; shave into thinly sliced rings; arrange on top of fennel. Top with honeyed cheese. Sprinkle with walnut pieces and pumpkin seeds. Pour dressing evenly over salad. Drizzle with a little more honey, to taste. Serve immediately.

Read More

Okay, I admit it: I’ve never been to Myanmar and so…have no memories of it. Instead, I live vicariously through people like award-winning Canadian culinary travel writer Naomi Duguid and CNN’s Anthony Bourdain, who guide us through the doors of a country whose society is now opening up after 50 years of isolation, and introduce us to the seductive flavours of its exotic cuisine.

Anthony Bourdain’s engaging episode on Myanmar (formerly Burma), from his show Parts Unknown, awoke in me an appetite for Burmese cuisine – a distinctive and delicious melting pot of flavours influenced over time by Myanmar’s bordering countries of India, China, and Thailand. I love the concept of Burmese salads: condiments may be sprinkled on bite-by-bite to make each mouthful a different combination of textures and flavours suited to individual tastes. So I created a salad tailored to my taste, loosely inspired by what I saw on the show but simplified, using ingredients I could easily find here.

Since then, I happened upon Naomi Duguid’s gorgeous book Burma: Rivers of Flavor while browsing in Indigo recently. The photographs drew me in and the recipes won me over; I’ve been pouring over it ever since. Warming Beef Curry with Tomato is an easy, comforting recipe using commonly found ingredients. The Red Chile Powder recipe is a cinch to make and has a bright heat that creeps up on you, leaving you blanketed in warmth. Next I am going to make the Paneer in Tomato Sauce and the Tart-Sweet Chile-Garlic Sauce so my husband will stop using the grocery store brand that is full of preservatives (he uses it like ketchup). And doesn’t the Intensely Green Spinach & Tomato Salad with Peanuts sound delicious? If you would like to travel vicariously down the rivers of Burma – “the rivers of flavor” – and want to try your hand at authentic Burmese cooking, Ms. Duguid’s well-researched book is your passport. Thank you, Ms. Duguid, for bringing the flavors of Burma into our kitchens.

Memories of Myanmar: Olive’s Spicy Tomato Cabbage Salad

Serves 6-8

This is the kind of salad that you’ll want to make when you are not in a rush, perhaps on a lazy Saturday afternoon when you have a hankering for something spicy to liven up your Saturday night dinner. We think it’s refreshing and exotic, even if it’s not an authentic recipe.

Naomi Duguid’s book, Burma: Rivers of Flavor, includes an authentic recipe for Burmese Tea-Leaf Salad, the type of salad which inspired my recipe. Yes, the authentic recipe calls for fermented tea leaves (unlike my recipe). Ms. Duguid describes it as a dazzling salad and Burma’s national dish. She included it in her book as “an act of optimism, in the hope that fermented tea leaves will soon become more widely available”. I’m on the hunt! I’ve asked at T&T Supermarket and my little local Indian grocery store and so far, have come up empty-handed. I sent an e-mail to the Myanmar Cultural Association of Brampton, hoping that they can lead me in the right direction. If I find some, I am going to try Ms. Duguid’s recipe.

Salad Ingredients:

12 cups shredded Napa cabbage (1 medium cabbage)

1 bunch fresh coriander (large stems removed), finely chopped

15 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped in ¼ teaspoon coarse salt

1 bunch green onions, sliced thin

2 cups seeded, finely chopped or julienned fresh tomatoes

6 mini cucumbers, sliced

Crunchy Bits:

1 cup roasted and salted peanuts (I use Spicy Peanuts from the nut counter at Adonis Mississauga to add a little extra heat)

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (olive the Suma brand that is already toasted – see photo below)

Dressing Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic

2 teaspoon ground turmeric

½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper or homemade red chile powder to taste

2 teaspoon white sugar

½ teaspoon sodium-reduced soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

Juice of 2 limes

3 tablespoon peanut oil or olive oil

Optional Accompanying Condiments:

Moong Dal (fried salty split green mung bean snack – see photo below)

Extra ground cayenne or homemade red chile powder or your favourite Asian chili garlic sauce.

Extra minced fresh garlic

Directions:

1. Place salad ingredients in an oversized salad bowl. If you don’t have one, divide salad ingredients evenly between two large bowls to give you enough room to toss on the dressing. Once dressed, the salad will fill just one large bowl.
2. Place peanuts in the bowl of a small food processor; chop by pulsing briefly 3 or 4 times, until you have a mix of chopped nuts and ground nut powder; place in a separate serving bowl and set on table. Place the toasted sesame seeds in a separate serving bowl and set on table.
3. Without washing out bowl, place first 7 dressing ingredients in the bowl of the same small food processor; process until garlic is finely minced. Add oil and blend thoroughly.
4. Pour dressing on salad; toss thoroughly. Serve immediately, with bowls of the crunchy bits and optional condiments on the side for guests to add individually, to their own taste.

Sumo brand White & Black Toasted Sesame Seeds are widely available and are usually found at grocery store sushi counters.

Moong Dal (fried salty split green mung bean snack) is available at Indian grocery stores and Loblaw’s).

My life lessons have taught me to not fret over the weather and to appreciate every day, no matter how grey and how cold. I can’t say that I welcomed those big fat flakes of snow this morning but I did grab the bull by the horns (or rather, the dog by the collar). Like a true Canadian, I took Buddy for an invigorating walk in the frigid wind. I felt so good afterwards. Then I decided to post this lovely little recipe to help us THINK GREEN and THINK SPRING.

My friend contributed this delightful salad to our church potluck dinner. Olived it so much, I asked for the recipe. It’s as cheery as the first songbird of spring. Healthy baby spinach greens, crunchy apples and nuts, and chewy raisins are dressed in an interesting vinaigrette that has just a hint of warm, golden curry flavour.

I adjusted the ratio of vinegar to oil to suit our tastes (we prefer a 1 to 3 ratio). Feel free to adjust it to your own liking, as long as you end up with a total of 1 cup of oil and vinegar combined. The original recipe called for 2 lbs. of spinach but I found that one 454 g /16 oz. package of baby spinach was plenty. I made the full recipe and divided the vinaigrette and dressing in half to use another day. We are big on salad these days and are eating it for lunch and dinner…maybe even breakfast. That would make my trainer happy!

I use Sumo Roasted Black and White Sesame Seeds from Bento Nouveau (available at Longo’s) because they are already roasted. I keep them in my fridge and sprinkle them on asparagus, salad, avocado chunks, stir fries, etc. If you can’t find them, just toast raw sesame seeds for a few moments in a dry skillet over medium heat, tossing them frequently in the pan, until golden.

Pura vida, Ev. Thanks for the recipe!

THINK SPRING! CURRIED SPINACH SALAD

Serves 12 (may be reduced by half)

Salad Ingredients:

454 g / 16 oz package Longo’s Organic Baby Spinach, washed carefully and dried gently but thoroughly

1/3 cup dry roasted, salted peanuts

1/3 cup shelled, roasted pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup green onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons Sumo Roasted Black and White Sesame Seeds from Bento Nouveau

2 or 3 apples

Curried Dressing Ingredients:

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Major Grey Mango Chutney, finely chopped

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry ground mustard

1 teaspoon honey

Few drops Tabasco sauce

3/4 cup salad oil

Dressing Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together white wine vinegar, chutney, curry powder, salt, dry mustard, honey, and hot sauce. Gradually add oil in a thin steady stream, beating with a wire whisk until blended. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, to allow the flavours to mellow together. Whisk again just before dressing salad.

Salad Directions:

Put raisins in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Steep for 10 minutes, then drain thoroughly. Combine spinach, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, raisins, green onions, and sesame seeds in a large bowl. Just before serving, peel, core and dice the apples into bite-sized chunks. Add to the salad. Pour just enough dressing over the salad to coat leaves lightly, then toss gently but thoroughly. Serve immediately.

Hallelujah! Brick House Pizza Company has finally opened in Streetsville. We’ve been waiting eagerly since they posted the sign “Saucy presents Brick House Pizza. Get ready Streetsville.” Saucy’s flavour-packed food had us at hello, since the moment the restaurant opened in November 2000. They are delivering big flavours again with artisanal, wood-fired, take-out pizza from Brick House Pizza Company. You can smell the wood burning in the brick oven from the parking lot. They don’t offer delivery yet, but olive that it is so easy to park right in front and pick up yourself.

The wood-fired crust on the Mama Roni that my son ordered was brushed with an herb-flecked tomato sauce made from puréed San Marzanno tomatoes (grown in the volcanic soil of Mount Vesuvio in Napoli, Italy – the birthplace of pizza), then covered with plenty of Mozzarella cheese and scattered with lots of crispy, spicy, dry cured pepperoni. It was pepperoni pizza done the way it should be.

I have been pining for a good pizza Margherita ever since I enviously watched Julia Roberts fall head over heals into a steamy affair with the Margherita pizza she ate in Napoli, Italy, in the movie Eat, Pray, Love. Brick House Pizza’s version satisfied my urge with a thin and chewy crust spread with olive oil and chunks of stewed San Marzanno tomatoes.  It was perfumed with strips of fresh basil, topped with gooey Mozzarella cheese and dotted with melted globs of Bocconcini cheese (fresh mozzarella balls).

Olived my husband’s own creation the best. Our teeth crunched salty prosciutto then sunk down through oozing mozzarella into sweet tomato sauce and chewy crust. The highlight was the tang of the creamy blue cheese as it hit our tongues (just the right amount of dabs here and there without overpowering you). My husband asked “How can I ever go back to chain store pizza when I can have this?” And thus begins our love affair with Brick House Pizza.

Not only is the pizza delicious but olive that they offer good, freshly made salad. The Caesar salad was full of crisp romaine leaves dressed in creamy vinaigrette with a kick of garlic and sprinkled with airy croutons, bits of shaved parmesan and chunks of real bacon that is cooked in the wood burning oven. One Caesar salad could feed 2-3 people if you are eating it with pizza.

I don’t know how I will find the strength to pull myself away from the pizza to try the rest of the menu but the sandwiches sound mouthwatering. Check out the link to their site below to see all of the alluring items offered on the menu.

www.brickhousepizza.ca